At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
William SafireRead
After eating, an epicure gives a thin smile of satisfaction; a gastronome, burping into his napkin, praises the food in a magazine; a gourmet, repressing his burp, criticizes the food in the same magazine; a gourmand belches happily and tells everybody where he ate; a glutton empraces the white porcelain alter, or more plainly, he barfs.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously critiques different types of food enthusiasts and their reactions to eating.
William Safire's quote provides a satirical look at the various personas people adopt when it comes to food consumption. It highlights the differences between an epicure, who enjoys food quietly, a gastronome, who seeks appreciation, a gourmet, who takes a critical stance, a gourmand, who shares his eating experiences, and a glutton, who surpasses indulgence to the point of excess. The contrast of their reactions serves as a playful critique of food culture and the idea of culinary snobbery.
Themes
FoodHumorGourmetGastronomyIndulgence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a food blog post to introduce different perspectives on eating.
More from William Safire
All quotes →Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
William SafireRead
Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
William SafireRead
Never assume the obvious is true.
William SafireRead
Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the bottom' of the page by little minds confined to little words.
William SafireRead
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
William SafireRead
Similar quotes
The truth is, I had always wanted to be a comedian, but I really didn't have that kind of personality, and it's a terrifying thing to say.
Jerry SeinfeldRead
A Puritan is someone who is desperately afraid that, somewhere, someone might be having a good time.
H. L. MenckenRead
Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended.
George Bernard ShawRead
Wit is so shining a quality that everybody admires it; most people aim at it, all people fear it, and few love it unless in themselves. A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share of it in another.
Lord ChesterfieldRead
The worst thing about television is that everybody you see on television is doing something better than what you're doing. You never see anybody on TV just sliding off the front of the sofa, with potato chip crumbs all over their shirt.
Jerry SeinfeldRead
You will, I am sure, agree with me that... if page 534 only finds us in the second chapter, the length of the first one must have been really intolerable.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead